However, when your newly minted GOP legislatures in states all over the country immediately set out to pass laws specifically targeting blacks and latinos in order to cut them from the rolls, prevent them from voting on days when black churches usually vote and make people present a form of ID that 25% of that specific group doesn't have, then I get pissed....and if people call you racist you had it coming.

I hope Barack can get this thing over the finish line, principally because I think he's been an effective president despite enormous challenges, but also because the GOP needs to be punished for the way they have behaved these last four years.

Historically abusing the fillibuster (from 1 on average a year to 70+ now), negotiating in bad faith and generally making the government an ineffective, national embarrassment.

RACISM is a belief system that one race people) are inherently superior to other races.

Nope. Racism is making judgements based on race. That's the long, short, and very broad of it.

Voting FOR a candidate because he's "one of your people" is not racist, any more than voting for Romney because you're both rich or from Massachusetts.

It most certnaily IS, but the presumption that Colin Powell is doing so is, itself, racist (and insulting and stupid.) There are racists voting for Obama because he's black, there are a lot more racists voting AGAINST Obama because he's black. Like most falsely equivocated things it is a question of scale.

A more accurate term for most people's behavior - on both sides - would be "PREJUDICED".

And there's that implied BSABSVR, how *did* I know it was coming? I must be one of those stinking psykers.

a_bilge_monkey:coco ebert: Oh, ha! I didn't even think of that because it's just a colloquialism my friends and I use when chatting. As a white person I should be careful of my phrasing, though.

Thank you. It's very similar to "those people", and I have a higher opinion of you.

I don't think that's true. African-Americans use that amongst one another, and it's not viewed as a pejorative. I tend to pick up dialects and usages easily so when I hear people use phrases I inadvertently start using them (I'm trying to avoid the "hey, I have African-American friends" line.) :) But indeed, I shouldn't be using phrases like that.

The fact that FOX spent much of election day 2008 showing those scary black mens over and over, blowing their racist dog whistle as loudly as they could in a last minute desperate attempt to prevent Obama from winning, is just more proof that the GOP have not abandoned their shameful racist political tactics they've used for generations, so thanks for the reminder in case there was anyone left who hadn't actually made that connection yet.

CapeFearCadaver:Yeah, I'm done with them. It wasn't just this election cycle; I was told my ex putting me in the hospital was my fault for not obeying his ridiculous demands of control. It took the DA actively barring them from the courthouse when the ex was put on trial for them to finally get it... kind of...

Holy shiat, that's... excessive. Sorry you had to go through that. What the fark were they doing that made the DA kick their asses out?Although I'd sort of liked to have seen it, I love when people like that get their asses handed to them, but that's your family, so I'd feel a little bad about enjoying it.

coco ebert:a_bilge_monkey: coco ebert: If there's a dog whistle, I'm not sure to whom because it certainly wasn't intentional. Are you referring to the fact that I assumed the picture referenced African-Americans instead of any voter who votes for Obama? On that you got me I guess.

"Black folk" . If I walked in to a bar, restaurant, grocery store, what have you, and asked "Hey, who are you black folk voting for?", I would be roundly and deservedly chastised for it.

Oh, ha! I didn't even think of that because it's just a colloquialism my friends and I use when chatting. As a white person I should be careful of my phrasing, though.

Man, you can say "black folks." I say "white folks." I can't speak for EVERY black person, of course, but I doubt anyone would care.

rewind2846:If black people are voting for president Obama because he's black, why has every democratic candidate for president since Franklin Roosevelt received the majority (70%+) of the black vote?

Roosevelt had a cane and a top hat (pimp)Truman ordered the destruction of two entire Japanese towns (gangsta)Kennedy was a very handsome man (cream in their coffee)LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act, pissing off a lot of crackers (like a BOSS)Carter's brother made his own beer (knows how to party)Clinton was Clinton

I think this is all a ploy to get more white people to vote for Obama.The biggest fear white people have is being called a racist. It wrecks careers and moves one outside respectable society.White people are pussies that are easily manipulated.

I'm a fifty-something white male raised in west Texas, and I think that you examining that whistle just made me think that there are people who will change the world because they are willing to examine how they think about the world. Kudos to you.

By defining racism as about specific actions, it helps deflect any serious investigation into both the history of contemporary culture of American structural racism as part of our political and socioeconomic institutions. It isn't really about personal actions--those are outgrowths of the enabling structure underneath--affecting Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Amerindians and others too.

Perhaps there were other reasons why he is a Republican and perhaps he is trying to change it from the inside. It isn't like Republicans listen and learn from anyone else... perhaps they will listen and learn from one of their own?

I doubt it, but the only people who can purge the racist elements from the Republican party are Republicans. I just think the vast majority are too pussy to try. This guy, so far, is the exception.

We're all racist in some way or another. People who claim they don't see color are liars, we all see it and it affects us in some way. Most of us actively work to overcome these parts of ourselves and it makes us ashamed to have these thoughts. Others, not so much. So I have this idea that all these distractions about Obama are just reasons that racists have to make it OK to hate him. They can't say he's a bad president because he's black, but it's perfectly OK for them to hate him because he's a socialist. So they have concocted all these lies about who he is and what he's done so they feel justified in hating him so they don't have to admit they just don't like the black guy in the White House.

I don't think so, Sparky. It's okay to see color. I can look at Michael Jordan and acknowledge he's black, and look at myself and acknowledge I'm white. That's not racist. There's no racism in seeing and understanding that there are different colors and cultures on this planet. What IS racist is thinking that your race is superior to another. I don't think any racial group is superior to another. There's winners and losers in every race, creed, color, and ethnicity. Look at the white supremacists who claim that they're the "master race." Ever see some of these people? Master race my left ass cheek. I'd love to tell them, "If you're the best your God can do, your God is a lazy and stupid God."

I can honestly look at myself in the mirror and say that I don't hate any man because of the color of his skin, and I don't think because I'm a different race than that man, I'm better. Saying "well, everyone is a little bit racist" is trying to rationalize your own issues by projecting them on other people, and that's an intellectually dishonest cop-out.

a_bilge_monkey:coco ebert: But indeed, I shouldn't be using phrases like that.

I'm a fifty-something white male raised in west Texas, and I think that you examining that whistle just made me think that there are people who will change the world because they are willing to examine how they think about the world. Kudos to you.

Smelly McUgly:coco ebert: a_bilge_monkey: coco ebert: If there's a dog whistle, I'm not sure to whom because it certainly wasn't intentional. Are you referring to the fact that I assumed the picture referenced African-Americans instead of any voter who votes for Obama? On that you got me I guess.

"Black folk" . If I walked in to a bar, restaurant, grocery store, what have you, and asked "Hey, who are you black folk voting for?", I would be roundly and deservedly chastised for it.

Oh, ha! I didn't even think of that because it's just a colloquialism my friends and I use when chatting. As a white person I should be careful of my phrasing, though.

Man, you can say "black folks." I say "white folks." I can't speak for EVERY black person, of course, but I doubt anyone would care.

Come to think of it, I use the term"white folk", but I'm not sure why. One of those strange colloquialisms I guess.

coco ebert:Smelly McUgly: coco ebert: a_bilge_monkey: coco ebert: If there's a dog whistle, I'm not sure to whom because it certainly wasn't intentional. Are you referring to the fact that I assumed the picture referenced African-Americans instead of any voter who votes for Obama? On that you got me I guess.

"Black folk" . If I walked in to a bar, restaurant, grocery store, what have you, and asked "Hey, who are you black folk voting for?", I would be roundly and deservedly chastised for it.

Oh, ha! I didn't even think of that because it's just a colloquialism my friends and I use when chatting. As a white person I should be careful of my phrasing, though.

Man, you can say "black folks." I say "white folks." I can't speak for EVERY black person, of course, but I doubt anyone would care.

Come to think of it, I use the term"white folk", but I'm not sure why. One of those strange colloquialisms I guess.

Yeah, I think it's more of a southern thing than anything. I picked it up when I lived in Texas for awhile.

I certainly thought you sounded more like you were from the South than anything. I don't know anyone who would be offended by that term.

Vectron:If this guy is right, why is it that any black person can walk through and white neighborhood safely while a white person cannot walk through a black neighborhood safely?

They can... Is it safe to assume that you're speaking out of an ignorant belief designed to cause fear of black people, or do you regularly get beat up walking through predominantly black neighborhoods?

I've walked through all kinds of neighborhoods... and oddly the only people who have assaulted me were white people. Once a couple of black guys actually saw me being assaulted and kicked the shiat out of the white guy who attacked me... then they gave me a beer and smoked a joint with me! So... from my own personal experiences, I'd say you're speaking from ignorance and fear, not experience.

Smelly McUgly:Vectron: If this guy is right, why is it that any black person can walk through and white neighborhood safely while a white person cannot walk through a black neighborhood safely?

Your premise is incorrect.

Only if you assume that a "white" neighborhood is inherently safe and a "black" neighborhood is inherently unsafe--for anyone of the other race. There are plenty of white areas where ANY outsider--of any race--would be instantly set upon and possibly killed; think of "Deliverance" for instance (not a black person in sight). And there are black areas where no black person would dare set foot.

Vectron:Maybe, but not too far off. I'm playing contrary man tonight for laughs. People don't think enough about race. I get tired of knee jerk white liberals. God, they love themselves their black people.

JohnnyC:Vectron: If this guy is right, why is it that any black person can walk through and white neighborhood safely while a white person cannot walk through a black neighborhood safely?

They can... Is it safe to assume that you're speaking out of an ignorant belief designed to cause fear of black people, or do you regularly get beat up walking through predominantly black neighborhoods?

I've walked through all kinds of neighborhoods... and oddly the only people who have assaulted me were white people. Once a couple of black guys actually saw me being assaulted and kicked the shiat out of the white guy who attacked me... then they gave me a beer and smoked a joint with me! So... from my own personal experiences, I'd say you're speaking from ignorance and fear, not experience.